Mae woke. Her mind was bleary, and her body was so heavy. She struggled to comprehend anything through the haze that permeated her mind. She was supposed to be fractured. She wasn't supposed to be aware. Had something gone wrong?

Mae groaned, and became distantly aware that her hand was bandaged, and her other was restrained. Did they think she was going to kill herself? She groaned again, and felt the weight lift off her arm.

"Honey?" She heard someone ask softly.

'What the fuck?' her mind was demanding, but her body still wasn't responding right.

"I think she's coming around."

"She will likely be a little disoriented."

'No shit,' she thought. She wanted to back to eternal slumber where nothing could hurt her anymore.

"Mae, it's Tomas, can you hear me?"

Tomas? Why? What? There was too much she didn't understand. What had happened after she had gone under? Why was she still whole? Why was Tomas here?

"Tomas?" She muttered weakly. It was the only thing she could get out.

"Yes, I'm here." He responded instantly.

"We should have left her in the bath." The doctor said from somewhere further away than before.

"Michelle didn't trust any of you to not fracture her." Tomas shot back.

"Genetically Michelle is the owner even if it was her parents that paid for her. She gets to decide what happens to her." The doctor informed him.

"But it would be convenient that she was 'accidently' fractured, and a nice settlement was reached?" Tomas shot back with venom lacing his words.

Mae opened her eyes, and saw how disheveled Tomas was. He must have slept here with her. She looked to where his gaze was directed, and saw the blustered doctor that had injected her.

"We don't operate that way. There are laws and we follow them. No pay off would be enough for us not to." He retorted hotly.

Tomas was about to respond, but Mae interjected stopping him. "Tomas, what's going on? Why am I still here?"

Tomas' gaze focused on her, and softened considerably. "Michelle is with her parents. She's pissed to say the least, but for now you're safe."

Tomas' expression turned into pain, and then went cold. "You want to be fractured?"

Mae closed her eyes. "I did what I was made for. What else is there for me?"

"Just because your original purpose was fulfilled doesn't mean you can't be left alive. You could have a life." Tomas told her. Why was she being so resistant to living?

"It was a supplemented desire that was imprinted along with Michelle's mapping to insure she didn't try to run. She would be compelled to perform the actions needed to find Michelle, and then she would welcome her decommission. Don't be too hard on her." The doctor said softly.

It made Mae wonder if she would have wanted this to begin with if not of that. If she was who she thought she was. Had she gone to such extremes just because an imprinted command told her to?

Tomas sighed heavily. "Can it be removed?"

"Yes, but she will have to go back into the tank. She can be awake for it though."

Tomas looked at Mae, and kissed her hand. He didn't want to lose her.

Tomas was waked by a ruff shaking. She looked up, and saw Mae awake in bed. She wasn't looking at him, and looked rather pissed. What had happened while he was sleeping? He turned to the one behind him, and was confronted with equally pissed looking Michelle. Tomas glanced in the direction of the doctor which he saw looked rather surprised. He turned back to Michelle.

"So what's the verdict?" He asked followed by a yawn.

"She's mine, and my parents have agreed to my plans, though I didn't give them much choice." She told him. "As we speak the tank is being readied to remove the command, and papers are being made up for both of us."

Tomas scrubbed his face with his palms, and then asked, "Then why are you so angry?"

"It seems myself and I don't see eye to eye with my reason nor what I did." Michelle said.

"I'm not you, and never was past a second of my waking life. Get that through your head, you self-centered bitch." Mae retorted curtly.

Tomas looked at Mae. He had never heard anything like that out of her before. Hell, he'd never seen her pissed like this. He knew how Mae felt about himself and even Tammy. He doubted that she would have made the same choice as Michelle. Despite their shared past the two were nothing alike. They were still similar enough to get just as passionate about two sides of the same coin. Tomas sighed.

"So when are you going to explain what you have decided for me without my consent?" Mae asked with venom lacing her voice.

"Enough both of you!" Tomas nearly yelled. He sighed again. He couldn't handle both these women in his life that was for sure. "Michelle had negotiated an agreement with her parents-"

"Extorted is more accurate." Michelle cut in.

"Had it coming with how they tend to play god," Mae said. Michelle nodded.

"At least you two can agree on something." Tomas said earning a glare from both women. "As I was saying, the agreement is that Michelle will continue in her new identity with Tammy. Mae, you will take Michelle's name, and live as her in the public eye." Tomas explained.

"What?" Mae demanded. She sat up straight in her bed. "I'm not her, nor will I ever be. You know how much I have struggled with all this, and now you want me to live as her?"

"At least you still get to live, and I can have my life I want too." Michelle told her.

Mae glared at Michelle. "You think you're so much better than your parents because you're letting me live, but you're just the same. You are using someone you have control over to achieve your own end regardless of their feelings or wants."

Mae laughed darkly. "You and I may be the same body, and the same past, but I will never be like you."

"Maybe not, but you'll marry my fiancé since you are pregnant with his child." Michelle told Mae with satisfaction.

Mae felt like she had been struck. Pregnant? She was pregnant?

"Just one more reason that you can't be fractured," Michelle told her lightly before turning and walking toward the door. She paused half way through the door. "Have a nice life Michelle, Tammy and I will keep in touch."

Mae gapped at Tomas whom was trying his best to look innocent, but he couldn't meet her eyes. "I didn't mean it to be told to you like that."

Mae slumped back into the bed. "I'm sure."

Mae stripped nude, and climbed into the blue gel once more. She lay back, and gulped the fluid into her lungs. She closed her eyes as the fluid around her charged with electricity, sending it dancing on her skin. She let the dance sooth her, and thought of a life of her own.

"Sir, the supplemental desire and commands were never triggered." The tech told the doctor.

The doctor turned to the man surprised. With a shake of his head and a note in the file the doctor replied, "Erase it anyway."

The tech nodded, and did as told.

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